SPU People: I love my Royal N. Which SPU will I like even better?

@edgewear, the Replcant 100 is a much more advanced profile than the shibata. It tracks with less noise and set up correctly causes less record wear.

@dhcod , as edgewear suggests you are better off looking at cartridges with advanced stylus profiles. If you like Ortofon the Windfeld Ti and MC Diamond are great examples. The MC Diamond is a great cartridge for higher mass tonearms. There are many others out there from companies like Lyra, MSL and Soundsmith. I know all three of these companies use excellent styluses because I have looked at them. I'm sure there are others that I have not experienced. 

Another thing about styluses, not all styluses of a given type are created equally. I have become reasonably certain that styluses like other diamonds are graded. The ones that are not absolutely perfect are not thrown away, they are used in less expensive cartridges. Like anything else, you get what you pay for.

@edgewear , I am not sure where this attraction to old HiFi gear comes from. The absolute best combination from my childhood suffers in comparison to the best modern systems. In my view it is all about the best performance. I acknowledge that others view might be different. If they are looking for the best performance they are headed down the wrong path. The reason stylus profiles evolved was to improve performance and record wear. In it's day the Shibata was the best stylus you could buy. It is relatively easy to make. The newer styluses like the Gyger S and the Replicant 100 required advances in manufacturing techniques and machinery.  

@edgewear , Howard Johnson's made 28 flavors but we know there is only one ice CREAM and that is vanilla. There is no accounting for bad taste otherwise.

What you are doing is making excuses for inferior equipment. If your taste leads you in that direction no one can argue with you. 

I want to close my eyes and feel as if I am in front of the actual performance with the recordings that are capable of this. This is not a crap shoot. The equipment and rooms capable of performing at this level do so because they were engineered, designed to do so. There might be multiple paths to the Absolute Sound but most paths are dead ends. Enjoyable maybe, but dead ends. I have been down several of them. 

Don't put chocolate chips in your vanilla. It screws up the texture.

There is a lot of good equipment that will produce enjoyable music. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the absolute best performance capable with current equipment. It is unfortunate that most of us can not afford it. I know well what that feels like. For years I engineered systems in my dreams that I could not afford, but then maybe that is why I worked so hard to be able to afford them. If people would stop wasting money on silly voodoo witch magic garbage they might be able to save up better. 

It is not an illusion at all edgewear. Hearing is believing.